


Ichneumon

by prayed



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Animals, Animals, Bittersweet Ending, Fluff, Hannibal Lecter is a Cannibal, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mongoose Will, Nothing explicit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:07:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25168207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prayed/pseuds/prayed
Summary: A mongoose asks a human for help, as best as he knows how.
Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Comments: 14
Kudos: 69





	Ichneumon

**Author's Note:**

> Will, an egyptian mongoose, is attacked by a lataste’s viper while hunting.
> 
> Hannibal is a foodie travel guide who’s come to Spain for Iberico sausage and other ingredients, but he runs across something that wasn’t in his plans.

Where did this viper come from?

This is unexpected, he has never seen any around here.

It slithered out from underneath rocks in the water where he had been hunting. Its long, dark body is coiled with tension, sharp eyes piercing into Will’s.

Will never looks away from it even as he moves to the side, assessing the situation.

It lashes out at him like a whip, baring dripping fangs.

Will jumps away just in time and bares his own teeth at it in return.

Should he stay and fight or try to escape?

Will can’t seem to make up his mind. The viper would make a great meal for his starving belly, but if he gets bitten, it will weaken his body even more. It may not be worth the energy or risk.

But he may not get a choice in the matter regardless. He backs away slowly. Can he slip away?

The snake slides forward, following him and rapidly, it strikes again, nearly grazing his side. He dodges, only narrowly escaping the hit.

Now he’s getting annoyed.

Will aims and charges forward. He bites into the viper’s body, tearing into it, bloody chunks filling his mouth. The viper jumps in shock, mouth agape as if screaming, before desperately sinking its teeth into Will’s back.

Will is resistant to the venom, but the fangs tearing through his flesh are sharp. He refuses to let go of the viper despite the agony.

Wrestling the viper down with his mouth, Will scratches at it with his paws, biting again and again until the viper is bleeding out in pieces at his feet.

Its head falls lifelessly as he ravages it, covered in blood. He’s in terrible pain but the instinct to fill his stomach first has him devouring the snake before he can pass out.

The snake is delicious but he can’t even stop to savor it, the way he’s eating. He eats until he’s overflowing, then leaves the rest for scavengers.

Hopefully, he won’t be next to die. He’s still bleeding deeply from the wounds in his back, vision going blurry.

From the grassy area comes the sound of a human‘s footsteps. Someone walking by near the water. A large man opens his bag as he sits on a rock.

Will doesn’t much care for humans; he’s cautious of them but he knows they’re smart. Going up to him might mean being killed or being saved. Who knows.

The human man is looking up at the sky, the wind lifting his hair. A relaxed quality. Unthreatening... But there’s something more to this human. There always is.

There’s little option now, Will decides, but to see what happens.

With his remaining strength, Will scurries from the grass up to the rocks, where the man is observing the water. Right up the ground to his shoe. Will nudges the man’s shoe until the man moves his foot, leaning down to look at Will questioningly.

He makes some sounds from his mouth but Will can’t understand. Will is but a mongoose and humans can’t speak his language so he knows he’ll have to be patient.

He squeaks anyway. Sounds responding to sounds. He whimpers at the pain. Will hopes it sounds like however humans say, “please help me”. He hopes this human is as smart as they seem.

The man doesn’t hesitate in putting his large hand on Will’s head to examine the bleeding puncture wounds on his back. Small surprised sounds, audible confusion. Maybe he’s wondering what he should do in this situation.

Will looks up at the man when he wraps his hands around his body to lift him up. The man’s eyes seem to look right into him. It’s strange. He’s never gotten so close to a human.

Will blacks out then and dreams about watching the water as well. The coolness of it and the pale sway of fish. Resuming the hunt he had had to abandon.

\- - -

He wakes up in a strange little blue room. There’s some other human here, a woman all in white, clean and concerned. 

Will can feel something stuck to his back where his wounds are, something soft. He feels numb. It’s not a bad feeling, in fact, he feels much better now. Not enough to run around yet, but he’s not starving or hurting.

His decision to trust that human must have been a fine one then. In the wild, decisions have to be made quickly. So far, he feels a bit proud that his have been working out so well.

The woman in white smiles at him and looks him over, scratching a long stick onto some white leaves.

He looks at her in turn, then tries to move around. Restless.

She scratches him on the head but seems worried, making quiet soothing sounds at him, shushing. He heeds her no mind. Where is the man who brought him here?

Will wants to see him.

Maybe he could give Will food or shelter as well, considering he’s so generous and smart. Maybe he could pet him too. 

Will can’t guess what a human would do. He just wants to see him. Doesn’t matter why.

She pets him and it makes him feel warm and good. He thanks her for making him feel well, squeaks and pushes his nose into her hand.

Eventually, Will gets tired from moving around, so he falls asleep on the white softness where the woman has him in this drafty, blue place.

He sleeps and dreams of— 

fangs.

\- - -

When Will wakes up again, it’s inside a place where humans live. A home. He got placed onto a big round soft thing, so heavenly soft like nothing in nature. 

He looks around. There are many tall things, hard and perfectly regular in shape, made of wood. Many leaves which humans look at and scribble on with sticks. Things which hold other things on top of them. Things he cannot understand.

He also sees a container of water nearby, resting on the floor. And he sees food.

Meat. All cut up and raw. The smell is intoxicating.

He sniffs at it, and famished, begins to eat it. It’s like no other meat he’s ever eaten. It doesn’t resemble snake or boar or rabbit. It’s sweet and tender.

There’s a quiet creaking as an opening appears, sunlight filling the place, before closing up again. It’s the man who helped him.

Will stops to look at him for a moment, before finishing his food. The man puts his things down on a flat surface, and his things smell strongly of food. Something delicious and meaty.

Why does this man have so much delicious food? Will wants it.

He comes up to Will and they look at each other. He’s smiling. Will feels warm, underneath the man’s hand, petting his ears again. He squeaks and tries to move away, embarrassed at his own feeling.

The man laughs, a rumbling, quiet sound and talks at him again. Or perhaps he’s speaking to himself. 

Will feels too dumb having just avoided the man’s hand to bump his head against it demandingly, but he does it anyway. The man pets him and he feels good and calm. 

He doesn’t care what the man is saying and can’t understand anyway, but his voice is quiet and deep and it doesn’t bother Will. 

He seems like the type not to care for animals, just like Will doesn’t care for humans. But so far, he is nice. Will can be nice too, if it’s necessary.

He squeaks at the man and plays with his hand until the sun goes down.

Then the man picks him up and puts him back in the round softness again. He seems like his hand doesn’t want to let go of Will’s head, stroking it endlessly, but eventually he does turn and leave.

Will, still exhausted, rests easy.

\- - -

The days go by, the sun rising and falling and the clouds and stars dancing through the sky. Will watches these complex matters through the big windows while the human man goes through his life.

The man does the strange things all humans do. Will knows he can’t understand.

Perhaps this is one of them: he tries again and again but the man won’t let him go outside. He won’t let Will go to where the grasses and trees and waters are. He says things to Will and sighs at him and holds him down. Is it because of his wounds?

Will almost wishes he could speak human language.

If there’s a human word Will has heard a lot lately, it‘s one that starts with a breathy sound, then rolls around a human’s tongue like a smooth, round stone, and ends with that tongue brushing against teeth. He’s guessing it’s the man’s name.

He’s heard the man say it and then gesture to himself, as well as from the strange thing the man talks into and hears voices come out of.

Will squeaks out his own name at the man but of course he doesn’t say it back, doesn’t look like he understands. Yet he still stares at Will like he’s touching the bottom of a pool of water.

Will’s injuries have nearly all healed and he wonders what will happen to him when they are gone. The soft, sticky thing has been taken away from his back but the man applies some kind of smelly grease to the wounds every night.

Will doesn’t like it but he doesn’t move away either.

His hands touch Will very gently, like nothing in nature.

\- - -

One day a man he’s never seen before comes into his human’s home and Will watches his human fight and kill this other man, much like how he killed the viper.

The stranger didn’t want to die so his human is covered in blood and scratches. His human is strong. He kills well and that’s necessary. He has many talents that even Will can understand.

The man drags the dead body through the house to the place where he makes food and Will hops out of his softness to see where they will go.

His human takes the dead body and cuts it with giant, sharp things until it’s all in pieces. He puts the flesh on the big flat surface and takes out fruits and herbs and places them all together.

Will looks at it all from his place on the ground. It smells so good, he is in a daze.

So this is what that meat was.

He squeaks at the man, begging to try some. The man laughs and says something, pleased, and continues moving the flesh around the place.

Will has the unfortunate feeling he will have to wait.

\- - -

The human does end up giving him some of it to try, Will can tell because the smell is the same, and it’s wonderful.

His food is very good and there’s so much of it.

The man takes a seat near Will and eats as well, visibly savoring every bite. He doesn’t talk at Will when he eats. It may be the only time Will feels like he really understands the man.

He wishes it could last forever, him and his human eating that stranger. The sounds of their eating like words that he finally knows, shared and ancient. 

A savage pleasure.

\- - -

It’s the deep of night when the human comes to him and talks at him. But the talking is slower and quieter than usual. It’s like the human isn’t sure what to say. Will has never seen him look so lost of words before.

Will can feel it from the look the man gives him. He won’t be able to stay with him any longer.

It’s okay, he tries to say, bumping his nose into the man’s bandaged hand. Right into the places where it hurts. 

Will feels a little lost for words too; it’s to the point he doesn’t even squeak at the man. It wouldn’t feel right to make noise in such a dark, soundless night.

The man stops talking then, doesn’t even wince at his own pain, and pets Will’s ears slowly.

When the sun rises again, bright like fresh fruit or blood, the man picks Will up in his arms and finally takes him outside to where the grasses and trees and waters are. Will is warm against his body until he’s placed down on the cool, dewy ground.

He looks at the man for a long time. He is kind. Will thanks him for help and food and shelter and petting and freedom — all with a flick of his tail. Then, he’s off.

The man’s eyes are on him as he turns and leaves into the bruising embrace of nature.

Even far away, he turns around and feels as though that man were still with him.

**Author's Note:**

> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichneumon_(medieval_zoology)


End file.
